HILLSDALE — Healthcare has come a long way from the days of house calls from a personal physician, black bag in hand. Modern technology and medical advances have radically changed the delivery of healthcare.?Beginning today, Hillsdale Community Health Center will institute a hospitalist program to enhance care to patients from Hillsdale and neighboring communities.?

Hospitals and physicians across the country are turning to hospitalists to enhance physician accessibility, coordinate treatment and provide seamless care to patients. A hospitalist is a medical doctor who specializes in caring for the various kinds of medical conditions that need hospital care.?

Hospitalists serve as valuable liaisons for both patients and physicians. They work as a team and are available at the hospital or on call, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Like a primary care physician, hospitalists are trained in general internal medicine and other specialties. Because they practice exclusively in the hospital setting, they know the hospital’s specialists and departments well, and can expedite communication and treatment with other caregivers. When patients are admitted to the hospital, a hospitalist assumes their care during their hospital stay until discharge.?

“Having hospitalists on staff increases the amount of contact patients have with doctors while in the hospital and make hospital care more efficient,” said Duke Anderson, CEO at Hillsdale Community Health Center. “Best of all, the hospitalist provides continuity of care and personalized attention for patients during their hospital stay, enhancing the patient’s experience.”?

One job of the hospitalist is to communicate with a patient’s primary care doctor as needed, particularly at admission and discharge. Hospitalists can often shorten a patient’s stay and speed recovery by closely monitoring the patient’s condition and making adjustments to the treatment plan. Once the patient is discharged, the hospitalist transfers care back to the patient’s primary care provider.?

Hospitalist programs are designed to help patients obtain good health care, both at the hospital and at office practices. Prior to these programs, physicians attempted to see patients in the office setting, where they spent most of their time, and also find time to see their patients who had been admitted to the hospital.?

The hospitalist program has emerged to address the growing problem of wait time — both at the office and the hospital — and also to address the time constraint on physicians.?

“In the past, after morning rounds at the hospital, physicians would leave and go to the office, sometimes not being able to return until the evening,” said Dr. Alex Franko, Medical Director for the new program at Hillsdale Community Health Center. “Hospitalists provide care at the hospital all the time — 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. They are always available to the hospitalized patient. They may see patients several times a day. They never leave the hospital to go to an office practice. Their office is the hospital. This is the ‘new way.'"?

Page 2 of 2 - Hospitalists are physicians, generally with an internal medicine background, who specialize in the hospital care of patients. They spend 100 percent of their time in hospital practice. Primary care doctors, whom the hospitalists serve, will be able to spend 100 percent of their time at their offices, where they can be more efficient.?

The hospitalist movement started over 10 years ago and was met with skepticism at first. Since its track record has been very positive around the country, patient satisfaction has become the norm. The program at Hillsdale Community Health Center will be no different.?

Many hospitals across the country, including those in the Hillsdale area, now have hospitalists on staff to provide consistency, stability and structure for patients, and manage the patient’s interaction with other care team members, as well as communication between the hospital staff and family members.?

The hospital will have six hospitalists on staff.?

“Hillsdale Community Health Center is committed to providing quality compassionate care,” said Franko. “Introducing hospitalists should enhance the experience of patients who come to Hillsdale Community Health Center for their care.”